Abstract

We investigate the transfer function of the discretized perfect lens in finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and transfer matrix method (TMM) simulations; the latter allow to eliminate the problems associated with the explicit time dependence in FDTD simulations. We also find that the finite discretization mesh acts like imaginary deviations from μ=ε=−1 and leads to a crossover in the transfer function from constance to exponential decay around k∥,max limiting the attainable super-resolution. We propose a simple qualitative model to describe the impact of the discretization. k∥,max is found to depend logarithmically on the mesh constant in qualitative agreement with the TMM simulations.

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.